prostrate

Etymology

Latin prostratus, past participle of prosternere (“to prostrate”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒstɹeɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑstɹeɪt/
• Hyphenation: pros‧trate

Adjective

prostrate (not comparable)

1. Lying flat, face-down.
   • Milton

     Prostrate fall / Before him reverent, and there confess / Humbly our faults.

   • 1945, Sir Winston Churchill, VE Day speech from House of Commons:

     Finally almost the whole world was combined against the evil-doers, who are now prostrate before us.

2. Emotionally devastated.
   • Gone With the Wind

     [Mammy to Scarlett] I told him you was prostrate with grief.

3. Physically incapacitated from environmental exposure or debilitating disease.

   He was prostrate from the extreme heat.

4. (botany) Trailing on the ground; procumbent.

Verb

prostrate (third-person singular simple present prostrates, present participle prostrating, simple past and past participle prostrated)

1. (often reflexive) To lie flat or facedown.
2. To throw oneself down in submission (also figurative).
3. To cause to lie down, to flatten; (figuratively) to overcome or overpower.
   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XIV, page 175:

     How many of these mighty pines were to be prostrated under that approaching tempest!

See also

• kowtow

Anagrams

• Perrottas

Verb

prostrate

1. second-person plural present indicative of prostrare
2. second-person plural imperative of prostrare
3. feminine plural of prostrato

Participle

prōstrāte

1. vocative masculine singular of prōstrātus